Day 7

Saturday, July 31st: Owego NY -> Corning NY
Dist 55.14
Ride Time: 5:05h
Avg Speed: 10.8
Max Speed: 35.7
Trip 373

Two freight trains passed by during the night, when those whistles blew it sounded like they were right next to my tent! (Which they nearly were, I was about 150 feet from the tracks.)

Today’s goal is to eat food that I have purchased and been carrying for the past 2-4 days!

This fella hopped onto my bike pannier as I was packing up and took some persistent encouragement to hop off!

Muse: What is an appropriate age to wed? Many tribal, religious, agriculture cultures by their mid to late teens. What does it mean that our Taker culture has such a long period of unfettered, uncoupled adulthood? How much relation to past 60 years of contraceptive development?

Muse: What would a Federal requirement that every waste receptacle have a conjoined paper & container recycling compartments mean? Every gas station that I stop at to fill water bottles, [actually, every place before and since then] a lone trash can filling up with all the plastic, tin and glass now destined for the landfill.

At Nickerson Park CG I asked at the office: “Do you have recycling for tin cans?” - surprised, the woman stammered: “Recyling?!... nnoo?”

From today’s Podcast listening: “A lie is a deliberate choice to mislead a target without any notification.” Actors deceive but you expect it when they are on stage, Poker has bluffing but it’s expected.

Saw not one, but TWO roadkilled red foxes today. It was really sad to see two such beautiful animals, smashed and dead from a vehicle.

The first one was in the first 5 miles of the day and it had happened just a few hours earlier, they were lying right in the middle of a lane of traffic and I stopped to move them into the bushes. The second was near the end of the day and it’s intestines had busted open from the heat and a swarm of flies were about it - that one I didn’t stop to move.

Had some riding company for a few miles today near Sayre with an older chap, he was celebrating his 51st birthday today and has the unenviable job of teaching 7th grade Health & Science at the local middle school.

Napped during the heat of the afternoon on a park bench in Elmira. Passed by an old General Electric plant in Corning, several acres of old concrete building foundation was visible, small sets of concrete stairs. All of it was sealed with concrete poured over it.

Camped stealth in a patch of trees behind an overflow parking lot for the High School.

Day 6

Friday, July 30th: Deposit NY -> Owego NY
Dist 60.80
Ride Time 5:52h
Avg Speed 10.3
Max Speed 35.3
Trip 318

Very heavy dew overnight in the weed field. Dripped like rain down through the mosquito net star-gazing window-thing. So much life in these semi-abandoned pastures that get mowed once a year! A spider was laying eggs onto my tent as I packed it up, egg sac dangling out of her butt - I hope she found a more stable spot. Had two naseauting spoonfuls of saccharine cloyingly sweet yogurt - maybe this was why I found yogurt to be typically disgusting growing up, since I had only ever encounter non-cultured, pectin-thickened, sweetened milk product? Today, I missed SideHill yogurt from Ashfield.

Made Binghamton around noon, got a new seat post clamp to replace the poor quality stock one that came with the bike from Joan at Aeros Cycles. Chenango Cycles, were I had had two packages sent, was in transit between their old location (building being demolished) and new (concrete for parking lot being poured.) I was fortunate enough that Josh, an employee, had just finished cataloging all their cardboard boxes of stored inventory, and he knew right where the special orders were! I got my two cycling jerseys and most importantly, all my Adventure Cycling maps.

Had a phone call with my brother Dan, coordinating about the mail and bills that I have had forwarded to him in Minneapolis and we chatted about how my trip had been so far, and the preparations that he is making for his two week trip to Africa to join my parents.

Used the public library and was able to successfully install Firefox. Microsoft: 0; Open Source: 1.

I like bridges:

Passed a huge Lockheed Martin complex east of Owego, the entrance road leading to the security checkpoint was a 4 lane divided highway, wide enough to land a commercial airline on. My tax dollars at work? Briefly contemplated taking a photo - hah!

Another night stealth camping, this time off the road between a pond with ducks and railroad tracks. The quacking of the ducks is certainly more pleasant bed-time music than the roar of trucks.

Day 5

Thursday, July 29th: Delhi NY -> Deposit NY
Dist 43.0
Ride Time 4:17h
Avg Speed 10.0
Max Speed 27.7
Trip 257

Rain sprinkles overnight - I lay inside my tent debating whether to get up in the night and put on the waterproof rain fly. Finally the cautionary side of me won out and I did, even though it seemed the rain might not amount to much. Boy am I glad I did! It ended up raining heavily an hour later.

The maple leaf landed in my cooking pot lid overnight:

A slow start to the day, the campground was so nice, I spent some time plotting my route across the remainder of NY. Finally was walking aback down the hill at noon.

Right knee started lancing pain around mile 13 after leaving the town of Walton, lowered my seat about 1 centimeter and that helped but I could still feel it weak on the uphills. I think Day 3 going through the Catskills I pushed perhaps too hard and strained it on those long uphills. Rear wheel has a couple spokes that started clicking today, spinning it on the frame I don’t see that it’s out of true but the shop in Great Barrington must not have had the proper tools to re-tension all the spokes evenly. Sigh.

Around mile 15 I stopped for lunch and sat under the highway bridge as it crosssed over a river, saw some fascinating dried insect carapaces on the rocks there.

In the afternoons I sometimes listen to my iPod to provide some diversion from the annoyance of vehicles regularly zooming past at 55 MPH - before I left Mass. I loaded all the episodes of This American Life, Radio Lab, and The Moth podcast.

Miles 30-40 were alongside the Cannonsville Reservoir, one of the seven (I think?) reservoirs that serve New York City.

(Lacking a polarizing filter to enhance the color of clouds and sky, I really like the effect of under exposing by 1 to 1 1/2 stops to achieve nearly the same blue color saturation.)

Similar to the Quabbin, there were several townships and about 2,000 graves relocated when the reservoir was constructed in the ‘50s and ‘60s. From the sign I read there was even a Supreme Court ruling to grant the eminent domain for the construction of the reservoir - and from there the water still flows ~150 miles to NYC! There was a remarkable diagram showing all the underground tunnel/canals and the series of reservoirs for water settling. 1.3 billion gallons a day, for 9 million people in and around the City!

Saw several motor boats rip-roaring around the lake, so odd to think that folks ride around in boats, mixing oil & gasoline into the water, in other city folks’ drinking water. Camped overnight in a field of weeds beneath a powerline, just west of Deposit, NY.

Day 4

Wednesday July 28th: Nickerson Creek Campground, Gilboa NY -> Delhi, NY
Dist 40.60
Ride Time 4:35h
Avg Speed 8.8
Max Speed 35.7
Trip 214
Sat by the river this morning and journalled about the previous day. At this time of year the water flow was really that of a large stream but it’s clear from the wide banks that in spring flood times it fills up. The yellow sunlight rippled through the leaves, an altogether peaceful setting - rudely interrupted by the incessant whine of a chainsaw from up the valley.
Where do we go to find silence?

Sometimes during the day when I’m riding I have a thought that I find to be too compelling that I stop to write it down then, less it become fleeting and not be remembered that evening or next morn when I write about my days travels. Therefore,
Muse: What is our insatiable preoccupation with ownership? “PRIVATE ROAD - NO TRESPASSING."
Where are the signs: “CONSIDERATE GUESTS & PASSERS-THROUGH WELCOME” ??
Just now I passed by a gravel side road with a half dozen mailboxes at the turn off, with that sign posted at least 3 places I could see on either side of it. Why are we so obsessed with our privacy, and our right to defend this idea of privacy and ownership?
Muse: Cars establish the inequality of Speed : Effort.
A challenge this trip has been to Stop. Listen. Cawking crow, buzzing insect, breeze rippling tree tops.
Leaving Nickerson Creek CG today, Donald one of the employees stopped his little golf cart to chat for 15 minutes. When I told him, “I’m going ‘til I reach saltwater at the Pacific -- Oregon” he expressed disbelief as to why anyone would want to bicycle that far. I told him that even he could do something similar, at which he scoffed: “Maybe when I was younger - I turn 50 this year.” I don’t really know how to react when I encounter these folk who take such a fatalistic attitude about their life - I want to infect people with my enthusiasm and energy! And maybe they are, but it’s I who walk away with the clinging feeling of their melancholic doldrums?
There was a long, 1 mile long hill that I descended from Grand Gorge into Gilboa last night so I decide to take a county road west for the first 7 miles or so, and hopefully avoid climbing back up that. Boy was I wrong! Instead of condensing my climbing into that 1 mile, I had instead chosen to climb and ride back down that same elevation threefold! Another field experience showing that Heitke-shortcuts aren’t always so short nor efficient. It was a very nice, quiet road with few vehicles, though!
After that, the terrain finally started to flatten out!

Stopped in Stamford for some groceries, while waiting in the checkout line this caricature of a New York grandmother, with her daughter carrying young grandchild in arms, pushed ahead of two other customers and myself - “We’vea only get two ihdtems!” - and then proceeded to animatedly gush about her new grand-daughter with the clerk for several minutes. After they had sped out of the store at the speed of two Olympic race-walkers, all of us left standing in the cloud of talcum powder and perfume couldn’t do anything but laugh.
I reached Delhi (Dell-high - the continuation of butchering pronounciation of foreign country cities continues and is not solely relegated to Minnesota where I lived near Milan/My-lawn for a summer.) Anyways, where was I? Yes, Delhi in the evening and found a campground that a local fellow described as “only a mile, at most two, out of town along that road” (Actually was 6 1/2 miles.) They had a simply DELIGHTFUL 1/4 mile gravel road that was more pebble and small rock than gravel or road - nothing I like more than ending my day than pushing my fully loaded bicycle up a steep hill for 1/4 mile!
It was worth it though, I was the only guest in the entire campground - a very slow year the older woman who owns it told me. The bathroom and shower building was simply magnificent, lumber that they had saw-milled themselves evident by the saw-teeth grooves, some of the boards 3/4 sawn with one side bark and branch knots still evident. I even peaked into the womens side and there was a divan to sit at!

Day 3

Tuesday, July 27th: Catskill/Cairo NY -> Gilboa NY
Dist 46.20
Ride Time: 5:31h
Avg Speed 8.3
Max Speed 37.9
Trip 172

It turned out that Catskill Campground was actually quite nice! This was as I was packing up my bicycle and getting ready to start riding again:

In the first few miles today heading south on County 32, two cyclists passed by me and after hearing my plans of taking 23A across Catskill park warned me to head further south, take 212 and 28. I thanked them for their advice and once they had turned off to continue their ride, stopped to look at the map. Taking 28 would add 30-40 miles to my trip, it curved and snaked so much - no thanks! At the time I felt I would gladly take 5 miles of steep uphill over so many additional miles - now after having ridden it, I'm not so sure!

It took 2 1/2 hours of riding time - not including the times I stopped to lean my bike against the guard rail and look back at the steep climb I had just rode or pushed up! - to cover those first 13 miles of the day. It was a truly spectacular climb, and all the moments I had to get off the bike and push it were worth it when I looked around:

Looking back at the 6-8% grade that the road went up for 4 miles (below):

This continent and county has such a wealth of forests and life! When I think about when these roads eventually sit untended, quiet except for the occasional walker and cyclist, I imagine how in 20 years weeds and scrub bushes will be growing in their cracks and pot holds. In 40 years small trees filling the roadsides and moving in.

When I reached Tannersville I felt pooped, and only had gone 16 miles so for! I stopped at a restaurant tavern for lunch and had a mediocre burger, I asked for medium and it came well done, overcooked without a sight of pink. Let's not even talk about the coleslaw or breadsticks that would serve as canes for corporal punishment, mkay?

I pushed on and did manage to get a respectably 45 miles for the day. It flattened out - even some downhill! I passed a sign for "Such and Such Ukranian Methodist Church" and then about a half mile later this appeared to one side of the road:

Nearing Gilboa, where I was planning to camp, there were some beautiful open fields too:

Rode 6 miles off the highway to get to a campground for the night, once I arrived they informed me that their was camping fee was an outrageous $27 a night! They were reluctant to negotiate - they knew they had the upper hand since I wasn't likely to leave and keep bicycling until I reached somewhere else - so I reluctantly paid. At least the showers were included in the banditry and I didn't have to shell quarters out to get hot water. The shower building was up near the RV campsites where folks have semi-permanent summer "homes" that they rent the space for the season - some pop song played four times in a row, I imagine some tweenie-bopper thought it was really hip. Apparently camping is the new venue to display your pimped car stereo system?

My campground neighbors pulled in around 9:30pm and proceeded to move vehicles around for the next hour, shining their headlights to help them put up their tents. One of them had a young infant, whom I could hear fussing while the fan for their air bed inflator whined away like a nest of upset hornets. What kind of world are we bringing our children into with obnoxious noises like this?

Day 2

Monday July 26th: Pittsfield, MA -> Catskill, NY
Dist: 65.44
Ride Time: 6:59h
Avg Speed 9.3
Max Speed 34
Trip 126

Camping so near a steep hill where semi-trailer trucks switch between low and hi-axles makes for an early wake-up! I was all packed up and ready to ride around 6:45, and then decided to check tire pressure, ended up unscrewing my bicycle pump handles from the plunger, and once properly put together realized it wasn't up to the task of adding another 10 lbs of air pressure to bring my rear tire up to 120 lbs. In fact, with all the time with the pump attached to the tube stem the pressure dropped from 110 to 80! Frustrating to spend 30 minutes on all that and be worse off at the end of it.

Made good time and reached Great Barrington, about 22 miles, by 10am. I stopped at the bicycle shop there to get my rear tire up to full pressure, and also it needed some truing of the spokes as the wheel adjusted to having more load on it with all my gear. I also got some Co2 pressurized cartridges to help with topping off my tires, since my hand pump wasn't up to the task.

Passed Bash Bish State Park around mile 34, my knees and quadriceps were complaining a bit on the uphills and I thought wistfully about stopping and visiting the waterfall that Marie had gone to the weekend before, but soldiered on thinking that I wasn't going to cross the country in two months if I only did 30 miles after every time I had a hard day. The hills sure went slow! Sometimes today I was going 4.5-6.0 MPH, at pedal cadences of 45-50! Definitely need to adapt the gearing a bit to give me a few more low gear choices! (Right now it's a 30-42-50 with a 12x25 cassette.)

I crossed the Rip Van Winkle Bridge over the Hudson River - I'd already been in New York state for about 15 miles but crossing the river felt like an appropriate marker:

Approaching the bridge from the east, there wasn't any signage indicating there was a pedestrian walkway on the south side - I didn't notice this until partway across when I met a person walking. So for the 3/4 mile bridge I was riding on a teeny tiny shoulder between the edge of the bridge and all the cars going by - not much chance to look to either side and enjoy the views of the river valley!

After I finished crossing I took a rest in the shade and called campgrounds to figure out where to spend the night. Sadly, once I had crossed into NY I was going to be working with a terrible car-driving map that covers the entire state, and hasn't much detail, for the next 200 miles until I reached near Binghamton, and it's 5 years old as well so plenty of the campgrounds have closed or changed phone numbers! I reached one and they gave me directions, after following them for about two miles I realized they were going to direct me onto a section of highway-interstate - it was divided and all cars goin 55 MPH, but was a short segment of the state highway so wasn't closed off to cyclists. Re-evaluation of plan. Take a county road, go south, and whichever Campground sign I see first I would follow (there were several marked, only one I had reached on the phone.)

I see the sign for Catskill Campground first (one I hadn't been able to reach anyone.) Ride down the road, and then every 1/2 mile for about 2 miles there is a sign saying "Campground Ahead." Now, when you're in a car this may seem fine and properly maintain the suspense - when you're on bicycle, have riden 6 1/2 hours and more than 60 miles that day with a full load, every little hill between those 1/2 mile signs begins to feel a bit deceiving.

I pass by an overgrown field with picnic tables, reach the end of the road at a Petting Zoo/Miniature-Pony Riding place, ask around and can only find two guests staying there for more than a week and no employees. Since then it has become my observation that everyone leaves their "OPEN" signs and flags outside or turned on, because the worst that could happen is a motorist could stop, find nobody was actually there, and keep on driving, right? Anyways, can't find anyone who expresses any authority or knowledge about the place, so  fill my water bottles, snag a roll of toilet paper, and head back to the overgrown campsite area to spend the night.

An Observation on States and Road Maintenance: In Massachussetts, they paint the crumbling edge of the pavement with a white line and call the gravel and grass beyond that "the shoulder." In New York, they make the road twice as wide as they need to, paint the middle half with lane lines, and 1/4 on each side is the shoulder. It should be mentioned that New York also has a recurring state budget crisis, and I believe still, on August 2nd, have not voted on a budget for the fiscal year that began more than 4 weeks ago. From what I understand this has been a annual occurence for many of the past years. But nice roads they have!

Day 1

Sunday July 25th: Northampton, MA -> Pittsfield, MA
Dist 61.13
Ride Time 6:55
Avg Speed 8.8
Max Speed 36.1
Trip Dist 61

Left Myke, Marie and Ben's house this morning who had graciously provided me with a backyard space for me to pitch my tent for the past ten days. Thanks ladies and gents! Detoured up north 5 miles to Hatfield to visit my storage unit - I had forgotten to leave my lightweight hiking shoes there yesterday - and also to disassemble my Bikes At Work trailer and fit things into it so it was a bit less prone to collapsing outwards once the door was opened.

Stopped at 8 High St to fill water bottles as I pedaled up the bike path, got to say goodbye to Kristen, Mariah and Rowan for 'prolly the 3rd time! Kristen told me, "It's okay if you're not ever going to leave, just you're hanging around!"

I rode the most recent stretch of the Leeds bike path to be completed (which unhelpfully brings you to a dead end - perhaps the path to be extended?) I was amused by this 8% grade sign, for a hill that was literally about 20 feet of elevation change over 160 feet. If only all roads were so diligently signed.

Around Cummington (mile 20ish?) a road cyclist who lived nearby, Robert, rode with me for a few miles. It's great to ride with other people, and he also set a pace for me to try and keep up with since all he had was two water bottles, and not the other 40 pounds of gear that I have! A few rain sprinkles around Dalton, I saw Robert riding downhill, having finished his 33 mile ride. I stopped at a small gas station near the top of the hill in Dalton to refill water bottles, and ate some delicious samosas that the owner had made.

Beyond Pittsfield there was a ginormous hill that I knew I was going to have to go up, but I was fueled on by the fact that there was a State Park on the other side that I planned to camp. It was the most aggressive hill I'd seen all day - and Western Mass isn't lacking! - and I walked the last 1/2 mile because my legs were cramping.

I reach the top, have a short downhill to coast on the bike, and there it is! Oh! Wait! There it ISN'T! I am greeted by the sight of a small roadside turn off area, two picnic tables, no restrooms. This is "Bates Memorial State Park." And so my first night I cook dinner behind the shelter of some trees, and wait until dusk falls around 8:30pm to pitch my tent. There is a steady stream of cars pulling over, people getting out and searching out bushes to pee behind (no restrooms either, here!)

Because I was at the top of a hill, there was a beautiful view to the west as the sun set:

Aside from the persistent noise of the vehicles going by (thank you last minute purchase of ear plugs!) it wasn't so bad. Around 11pm or so - sometime during the night - I was woken by the sound of voices nearby and after listening for a while, concerned of whether they were going to approach my tent and bother me, I realized they were indulging in the anonymity of the roadside area for a little sexual promiscuity. Peering out my tent door I could see they were near a tree about 20 feet away, and I laid awake until they left. I still don't know whether they saw or were aware of the white tent pitched near them.

Packing Day!

We had a lot of rain yesterday, Friday, so I wasn't able to spread things out in the driveway and do my final sort for what I'm going to take with me on the trip. Today it's a deliciously sunny day with what feels like 80% humidity, so today it will be!

I sneaked up to my garden on Thursday morning and got some last photos of the plots all mulched and put to rest for the remainder of the summer and fall:

Marie and I got some shots this morning so I actually have a bicycle-ly photo to upload!

At first the camera lens had condensation from all the rain yesterday, which yielded some interesting (artistic?) photos:

After standing with the lens in the sunlight for a couple minutes, all the moisture evaporated.

After I do my final sort I'll do a run up to my storage unit and put away some last minute things like my laptop and extra clothes that I've been wearing the past week that I won't be traveling with.

With this new camera (A Canon Powershot G11) it has some funky features like this:

Finishing Up in NoHo

Spot has moved on to a new home, what a great companion and feline home-bro he was! I will dearly miss his alive spirit and his good morning meows when I let him inside each morn.

 

The apartment is closed up, it was so EMPTY when I left. It took many more days than I anticipated to get everything moved out, but then again with more than a half dozen serious hobbies and equipment and tools for each, that adds up quickly as possesions!

I managed to fit everything into a 10 ft by 10 ft storage unit, I'm grateful for my Heitke hereditary skills at packing things closely together to be able to fit it all in! I'm consciously not thinking about what will happen when I return to New England to retrieve something and realize that the item I want is in one of the back corners.

After this second photo I still had to fit in my trailer work bicycle, my 6 foot trailer, and a couple of plastic tubs of stuff!

I've been staying with Myke, Marie and Ben for the past week and had a few goof off days interspersed with running errands, spending hours up at my garden plots putting them to rest. I don't know if I'll be making it back to Northampton this fall and get to do any garden work, so I mulched the three plots with layers or cardboard, then wood chips, and then mulch hay on top.

  This last plot still had buckwheat cover crop in it, which I have now turned under.